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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

This was not an easy story to tell because we had so many
problems getting a hold of Jasmine Martinez. She was locked up in prison.
Prisoners can’t take telephone calls.

Backstory: Jasmine Martinez describes herself as having both
male and female sexual parts. She says she has more female parts and should be
housed with women while behind bars. The Jefferson County Jail medical staff
agreed with her and placed her in the general female population. However, the
Department of Corrections said she is a man and housed her with men. Jasmine has now threatened to sue the
Department of Corrections because she says it violated her civil rights. If
this happens, taxpayers will pay to defend the lawsuit.

I first wrote Jasmine a prison email letter in January and
she sent me a letter back through snail mail.

Jasmine agreed to speak with me but the Department of
Corrections would not allow us into the prison to interview her. We were told
it had to do with Jasmine’s safety.

She was getting out of prison in Cañon City in early
February. The plan was to be at the prison gates when she got out. However, a
huge snow storm hit our area and we couldn’t travel south on Interstate 25
safely.

I knew where Jasmine would be staying when she got out of
prison so I started stopping by the house. The family she was living with eventually
had her call me and we set up an interview.

In TV, a reporter is never sure if someone will show up
for the interview. Jasmine did and we talked for about an hour. I found her to
be very frank but nice.

At the time, we didn’t have medical release forms so
Jasmine could give the Colorado Department of Corrections or Jefferson County
Jail permission to share her medical details with us.

A few days later we got the needed forms signed.

Then the Department of Corrections questioned whether the
forms were valid because she had signed her signature as Jasmine Martinez. Her
name in DOC is Jose Ruiz. Luckily for me, I also had her sign Jose Ruiz it just
wasn’t very legible. After some discussion DOC agreed to hand over the records.

We got them last Friday. Over the weekend and all day
Monday my producer and I reviewed the documents.

Talk about a fast turn on a story. I’d like to know what
you think. It will be on Wednesday night at 9 p.m. on channel 20 and 10 p.m. on
channel 9.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Tonight, I’m going to tell you about a prison guard and
inmate who died when their transport van rolled on an icy stretch of Interstate
70 in December. A police investigation blamed the private-prison guard from CCA
who was driving. The report said she was going too fast and was an
inexperienced driver.

During my investigation I discovered none of the inmates
were allowed to have seat belts. Our state Department of Corrections doesn’t
require private-prison companies to give inmates seat belts. Most of our report
focuses on getting answers about that.

Doing a story about a prisoner who dies is always tricky.
We, in the news business, wonder if viewers will connect with the story about
someone who committed a felony.

I’ve been a reporter for more than a decade now. I’ve
interviewed inmates in prison and their families outside.

What strikes me is how families of prisoners are punished
too. Many times they have done nothing wrong.

Mothers are forced to raise kids as single parents while
dads sit in prison.

What if your brother, mother, father or wife broke the
law and went to prison?

Would you stop loving that person? I wouldn’t and it
wouldn’t stop me from being crushed if he or she died in a van without seat
belts.

Any of us could find ourselves loving someone who is
forced on treacherous roads with no seat belts.

That’s why we should care about what we uncovered in our
investigation.

It airs Friday night an 9 and 10 on 9NEWS and will be on 9NEWS.com after it airs.

I asked the wife of inmate Daniel Cooper to tell me about what this situation has been like for her. Daniel Cooper was injured when the van rolled. I am not professing that I've verified his wife's claims but give it to you to read and decide for yourself what is right. This is a portion of what she said wrote to me:

On December 20th 2011 I started my normal routine as usual;
make a pot of coffee & turn on tunes while I get ready. I had spoke to my
husband that Sunday and knew he was going to be transported to a minimum
facility and would call me as soon as he could. For some reason that morning
decided to turn on the T.V instead of my usual routine,
and that's when I saw it ......a correctional van that was
transporting inmates was involved in a fatal accident, 2 dead and several injured.

I started to panic they weren't releasing any names I knew Daniel was
on that van, I felt a feeling I really can't explain, I mean I had finally met
a man that was this amazing person that just makes some stupid choices and he
could be dead. I kept thinking what if I'm a widow. Well anyways I finally got
myself together enough to start making calls. My friends kept saying don't
worry honey they would have called if Daniel was in that van.

I was
his emergency contact so for a few minutes the panic subsided. I
first called Kit Carson and they acted like they had no idea but informed
me they only call families when a prisoner dies. WHAT???? are you kidding
me and with no sensitivity whats so ever. I didn't stop
there I made several calls and finally got information that he was in the van
and that he had sustained serious injuries. I was furious how
could they not call families to let us know.

I finally got to talk to
a nurse at Denver Health who was very kind and had Daniel sign a release of information
so I could know what was going on. I called everyday 2x a day to get updates on
him. Our lives have been turned upside down in a matter of minutes. So once I
got to talk to Daniel which was several days later and many a phone call to DOC
I heard from my husband what happened.

2 very important
things I'd like changed 1st: All transportation vans,buses etc should
have seat belts & second an accident of
this multitude families should be notified immediately!!!!
Daniel struggles everyday he is haunted by the events of that day I am
powerless to help him we haven't seen each other in almost 2 years
another great DOC move.

I am hoping that reaching out the public they can see
just how important seat belts are and chose to make the
right decision either alone or transporting people go slow and
pay attention. Thank you for listening my heart & prayers go out to
the families suffering YOU ARE NOT ALONE :)